Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; Census of Population and Housing, 1980: Summary Tape File 3 [machine-readable data file] / conducted By the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington: Bureau of the Census [producer and distributor], 1982.

The sum of payments for real estate taxes, fire and hazard insurance, utilities, fuels, and mortgage. These data are tabulated for "specified owner-occupied" units, i.e., one-family houses on less than 10 acres without a commercial establishment or medical office on the property. The data exclude owner-occupied condominiums, mobile homes, and trailers.

Only selected monthly owner costs are included, since payments for maintenance and repair are excluded. Selected monthly owner costs are presented in tabulations comparable to those for gross rent since they are both measures of shelter costs) albeit for different universes.

The components of selected monthly owner costs are payments for the following items, all asked on a sample basis:

The total amount of all real estate taxes payable on the entire property (land and buildings) last year. It includes State, local, and all other real estate taxes even if delinquent, unpaid, or paid by someone outside the household. Taxes are reported even if included in the mortgage payment. Not covered are payments on delinquent taxes due from earlier years.

The annual premium for fire and hazard insurance on the property; that is, policies which protect the property and its contents against loss due to damage by fire, lightning, winds, hail, explosion, etc. Liability policies are included only if they are paid with fire and hazard premiums and the amounts for fire and hazard cannot be separated. Premiums are included even if paid by someone outside the household or remain unpaid.

The regular monthly amount (both principal and interest) required by the lender on mortgages (including second or junior mortgages), deed of trust, or similar debt on the property; or payments on a contract to purchase the property. Amounts are included even if the payments are delinquent, or paid by someone else. The amount includes everything paid to the lender or lenders, regardless of what is included. Separate parts of the question determine whether taxes and insurance are included in the payment to the lender so that it is possible to avoid counting these components twice in the computation of monthly owner costs.

In the computation of selected monthly owner costs, annual figures for taxes, insurance, water and fuels (items where annual figures are usually more readily available than monthly figures) are divided by 12 to yield monthly figures.

Selected monthly owner costs are tabulated in a varying number of categories. Data are generally presented separately for units with a mortgage and units not mortgaged (i.e., owned free and clear) since the distribution of housing costs is quite different for the two groups. Basic record tapes preserve the dollar amounts for each of the component figures collected (e.g., mortgage payments, water payments). Public-use microdata samples also show dollar amounts, for components as well as tot31 selected monthly owner costs, although the amounts for real estate taxes and insurance premiums are combined into a single figure.

Selected Monthly Owner Costs As Percentage of Income

The ratio of selected monthly owner costs to household income in 1979) converted to percentage form. The data are tabulated for "specified owner occupied" units, i.e., one-family houses on less than 10 3cres without a commercial establishment or medical office on the property. The data exclude owner-occupied condominiums, mobile homes, and trailers.

Data are shown in terms of the number of housing units in categories such as "less than 20 percent," "20 to 24 percent," "25 to 34 percent," and "35 percent or more;" the data are generally cross classified by household income. Units occupied by households reporting no income or a net loss are included in the "not computed" category. This item was computed on a sample basis.
Limitations: Utility and fuel costs are frequently overestimated by respondents.

None of the components of selected monthly owner costs have been collected in previous censuses. (Utility and fuel costs were collected in 1970, but only for renters.)

Excerpt from:

Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; Census of Population and Housing, 1980: Summary Tape File 3 [machine-readable data file] / conducted By the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington: Bureau of the Census [producer and distributor], 1982.

Total money income received in calendar year 1979 by all household members 15 years old and over, tabulated for all households. Household income differs from family income by including income received by (a) all household members 15 years old or over, not just those related to the householder, and by (b) persons living alone and in other nonfamily households. See the definitions of Income In 1979 and Income Type for discussions of sources of income recorded, means, medians, limitations, and comparability to other data bases.

In income tables for households, the lowest income group (e.g., less than $2.500) includes households that were classified as having no 1979 income as defined in the census. Many of these were living on income "in kind," savings, or gifts; were newly created households; or were households in which the sole breadwinner had recently died or left the household. However, many of the households who reported no income probably had some money income which was not recorded in the census. Household income is recorded on public-use microdata in $10 intervals up to $75,000 or down to a net loss of 39,990 or more.

Median and mean household income figures are based on all households, unlike mean or median income figures for persons 15 years old and over, which exclude persons with no income. This item was derived on a sample basis.

Household income was tabulated for the first time in the 1970 census, but its use was limited to one detailed table in PC (l)-D and the Sixth Count summary Tape. Household income is used in 1980 population reports in some places where family income was used in 1970 population reports. In 1980 as compared to 1970 housing tabulations, household income replaces "income of family or primary individual," which excluded the income of anyone unrelated to the household head. Household income is, however, derivable on public-use microdata samples from the 1960 and 1970 censuses.